London’s Notting Hill Carnival, Europe’s biggest street festival, is to go ahead later this month, organizers said Thursday, despite calls for it to be cancelled following riots which swept across London last week. The carnival, which can bring more than a million people onto the streets of west London, will start at 9:00 am and end at 7:00 pm on August 28 and 29.
Organisers said they had received a lot of support from people who felt the carnival was an uplifting event that should not be scuppered by the actions of a minority.
“Troublemakers or those who seek to cast a shadow over this vibrant event are not welcome and shouldn’t be allowed to spoil it for thousands of others,” said carnival co-director Christopher Boothman. “We want everyone to come early, enjoy carnival and get home safely.”
The carnival was itself founded in response to the Notting Hill riots of 1958, which saw violence flare between whites and immigrants from the West Indies. The carnival has attracted up to 2 million people in the past, making it the second largest street festival in the world after the Rio Carnival held in Brazil.